THE ROUTE
the opening days in Belgium.
Our country is crazy about
cycling and it’s really going
to party when the Tour
comes, you can believe me!”
The Mur de Grammont is a deciding
climb in Het Nieuwsblad.
Cobbles contest
“THE MUR DE GRAMMONT AND
BOSBERG HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN
THE HEART OF EVERY BIKE LOVER”
de Grammont to its summit
and its famous chapel.
Four kilometres beyond
that, the riders will tackle
the Bosberg. These two
tests have been placed
towards the beginning of
the stage, after 43km and
47km, but there’s still an
incentive for the Flemish
Classics specialists to give
it all they’ve got on these
two climbs. The Mur de
Grammont will be classified
as a third-category climb
and the Bosberg as a
fourth-category. As they’re
the only hill tests on the
stage, the first polka dot
jersey of the 2019 Tour will
be decided there.”
The significance of this
hasn’t escaped Greg
Van Avermaet, a cobbled
Classics specialist who wore
the yellow jersey for eight
days in 2018. “I’ve thought
about it,” says the 2016 Rio
Olympics champion with
a smile. “But many other
riders have probably thought
about it too. I’m certainly
very happy that the Tour is
venturing into this terrain,
even though I would have
preferred it if those two
difficulties had featured at
the end of the stage rather
than at its beginning. That
would have helped my
chances of success.... The
Mur de Grammont and the
Bosberg are two places I
know by heart because I
climb them a good 20 times
a year in training. I often go
out with a small group of
riders, which also includes
Oliver Naesen. We inevitably
end up having a big battle
there. Going over them in
the Tour will be a very special
moment, as will every bit of
The 2017 Paris-Roubaix
winner will remain in his
element as, 70km further
down the road, the peloton
will tackle a 2km-long
section of cobbles near
Thiméon. “It’s not as testing
as the most demanding
sections of the ‘Hell of the
North’,” says Gouvenou. “But
I would still give it three stars
out of five if I had to estimate
its degree of difficulty on our
usual scale. Coming a little
more than 70km from the
finish, it will certainly spice
up the contest.”
While this first stage is
already on the radar of
sprinters with dreams of
pulling on the first yellow
jersey of the 2019 Tour, they
will need to have strong legs
if they want to show their
best on what are two very
demanding final kilometres.
“The road is never flat and
the gradient is always close
to 3 or 4%,” Gouvenou
explains. “You’ll need to be
extremely tough to win in
front of the Royal Palace of
Brussels!”
Team trial
The second stage, a 27.6km
team time trial run entirely
within Brussels, will also pay
tribute to Belgium’s ‘King
Eddy’. “I actually pulled on
my very first yellow jersey in
the 1969 Tour at the end of a
similar test. Our Faema team
won it,” remembers Merckx.
“I’ve got a very clear memory
of it, just like my stage win in
Mourenx after my solo break
of 140km. But my strongest
emotion that year came at
the finish in Paris when I
realised that I’d definitely
won the race. Winning
the Tour de France was a
childhood dream that had
suddenly became reality.”
It will be a dream, too, for
the future winner of the 2019
race, one that will begin on
6 July in Brussels. ●
Eddy Merckx’s first Tour de
France passed through Woluwé-
Saint-Pierre, the Brussels
suburb where he grew up.
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